Jerome Gambit: Updating An Old Line

The following game is a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) miniature with a brutal ending.

It touches upon a blog post from 13 years ago, based upon a game from 145 years ago. 

sith_nich - thombolo

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Nf3+ 

9.gxf3 

Instead, 9.Kf1 was seen in  Jerome,A - Norton,D, Correspondence, 1876 the first example of the Knight sacrifice.

9...Qh4+ 10.Kd1 Nf6 

In an early blog post, "Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter III", I mentioned that 

The American Chess Journal editor William Hallock [September 1876 ] assessed Black as better after [10...Qf2]. Not so.

I faced 10...Qf2 and showed that the best Black had was a draw, although when he pushed for more, he had a loss, in perrypawnpusher - Sir Osis of the Liver, Jerome Gambit thematic, ChessWorld.net, 2008 (1-0, 19) 

I also noted that

[A]fter 10...Ne7 11.Qe5+ Kc6, although 12.b4!? would keep things interesting.

This was borne out in the recent game Littleplayerparis - Bepis, blitz, lichess.org, 2021: 10...Ne7 11.Qe5+ Kc6 12.b4 d6 13.Qc3 Qf2 14.bxc5 dxc5 15.Qe3 Qg2 16.Rg1 Qxh2 17.Rxg7 Qh1+ 18.Rg1 Qh5 19.Nc3 Be6 20.f5 Bc4 21.d3 Ba6 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.exd5+ Kd7 24.Rg7+ Kc8 25.Qe6+ Kb8 26.Rg8+ Black resigned

White has only one piece developed, and his King cannot castle, but his opponent must still be careful, as the rest of the game demonstrates.

11.e5+ Ke7 

It is unfortunate that trying to sneak out of the center does not help Black's King.  Instead, 11...Kc6 12.exf6 Qxf6 13.Qd3 Qd4 14.Qxd4 Bxd4 would give the defender a slight edge, with his two Bishops vs White's broken Kingside pawn structure. 

12.exf6+ Kd6 

Possibly clock, possibly shock. In either event, things end quickly.

13.Nc3 Qf2 14.Qd5 checkmate

Excellent!